Are tobacco industry campaign contributions influencing state legislative behavior?
F Monardi and S A Glantz Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0124, USA. OBJECTIVES: This study tested the hypothesis that tobacco industry campaign contributions influence state legislators’ behavior. METHODS: Multivariate simultaneous equations regression was used to analyze data on tobacco industry campaign contributions to state legislators and legislators’ tobacco control policy scores in 6 states. Campaign contributions were obtained from disclosure statements available in the specific state agency that gathers such information in each state. Tobacco policy scores were derived from a survey of key informants working on tobacco issues in each state. RESULTS: As tobacco industry contributions increase, a legislator’s tobacco policy score tends to decrease (i.e., become more pro-tobacco industry). A more pro-tobacco position was associated with larger contributions from the industry. These results were significant even after controls for partisanship
